The renovation of Sun Devil Stadium will give the aging football facility a long-overdue face-lift but could displace the Arizona State University football team and reroute fans to as far as downtown Phoenix or Glendale for at least a year.

In a best-case scenario, an overhaul of the massive stadium, known for its picturesque setting nestled between two desert buttes in Tempe, would start after the Sun Devils’ 2013 football season ends, said Arizona State University Athletics director Steve Patterson last week at a Tempe Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

The demolition and initial renovation could be limited to areas that would allow the team to keep playing in the stadium during the 2014 season, but there would be fewer seats due to construction, he said.

But after that, fans can expect Sun Devil football to leave Tempe for at least the 2015 season, Patterson said.

“You should only miss one season,” Patterson said.

Patterson suggested the Sun Devils could play in Phoenix’s Chase Field, home to the Diamondbacks, or head to the Cardinals’ University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale. He said no deal has been finalized for either site.

Patterson admitted to the audience that much of the master plan for ASU’s 330-acre Athletics Facilities District is still up in the air.

In the fall, ASU outlined an ambitious plan to rebuild its old sports arenas. The university’s vision centers on generating enough revenue to transform the stadium and other facilities into state-of-the art sports hubs by developing the 300 acres near Tempe Town Lake and downtown Tempe.

The master-planned development would feature renovated athletic facilities, including a new golf course, surrounded by residential and commercial space to pay for the construction.

Sun Devil Stadium’s face-lift is the most high-profile project in the plan.

Patterson told the audience that the stadium is ancient by Pacific-12 Conference standards.

“We’re among the oldest,” he said, adding that by comparison, since 1998, $1.3 billion has been “spent on football stadiums alone in the Pac-12 Conference.” Sun Devil Stadium is the only Pac-12 facility without recent renovations, he said.

The stadium renovation is key to ASU’s goal of significantly boosting revenue from Sun Devil football. Patterson said that in 2011, only Washington State and Utah generated less revenue than Sun Devil athletics. He added that out-of-state visitors are often surprised by the condition of the stadium.

Patterson said the Sun Devil Stadium renovation could range from a $90 million plan, which would ensure the stadium’s structural integrity and safety, to a larger plan to be unveiled this spring that would rebuild the stadium and improve fans’ experience.

Patterson told the audience that ASU has received developer bids “from all over the country” for the 300-plus-acre master plan.

Steve Nielsen, ASU assistant vice president for real-estate development, told The Arizona Republic Friday that ASU would have more detailed information on the finances and timeline for renovating the stadium and the athletics-district plan after it selects a developer.

Seven development proposals were submitted by the Nov.15 deadline, and ASU whittled them down to a shorter list, Nielsen said.

“We sent out notification to the group that we short-listed,” he said. “They have until February 15 to submit a business plan, then, we will review those (plans).”

Developers will be called in for interviews in March. Nielsen said ASU expects to select a developer by the end of March.

Citing the ongoing procurement process, Nielsen declined to release the names of the interested developers.

Valley residents will be left in the dark about many of the project details until a developer is selected, he said.

“Unfortunately, to protect the process … for the procurement … there is kind of an information vacuum …(on) what (development proposals) we received and who we’re talking (to),” he said.

However, The Republic obtained a list, posted on the university’s site for active and closed bids, of seven respondents to the “Development of the University Athletics Facilities District” project.

The short list includes Alberta Development Partners, Catellus Development, DMB Associates, Forest City Development and Oliver McMillan.

The small audience at the Tempe business luncheon included longtime Sun Devil fans. Ed Scannell was among those quick to drill Patterson on plans for “The District,” ASU’s nickname for the expansive project that Patterson said would change the face of Tempe.

“I came here thinking we were going to see a series of designs and proposals,” Scannell said.

Scannell, a retired ASU business professor and longtime season-ticket holder, said the stadium renovation is a must for ASU to compete with other universities.

Patterson told the Tempe audience that any timeline for the stadium renovation is a loose estimate.

Unexpected delays plague much smaller home renovations, so imagine rebuilding a sprawling, aging stadium that seats as many as 75,000 people, he said.

The financing plan may include raising money through stadium-naming rights.

Patterson said he expects strong interest in such rights because of the region’s history of college football and the stadium’s high-profile setting near freeways, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, downtown Tempe and ASU, the nation’s largest campus by enrollment.

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